9 best Keanu Reeves movies that show John Wick can act

Keanu Reeves was regarded as a poor actor for much of his life. While everyone knew that he excelled in action scenes and was a natural actor, people laughed at how clumsy he could be when he needed to express emotion. These same shortcomings that have earned him fame are now qualities that he is proud of, as no one performs like he does. Matthew Perry learned the hard lesson that Reeves has become a popular actor onscreen and offscreen. This reappraisal of Keanu Reeves isn’t just due to his status as one of the internet’s favorite celebrities; it’s because there’s actually nothing mediocre about his performances.

Reeves may not be a chameleon but his genuine space cadet attitude is very effective in many contexts. He’s played traumatized teens in River’s EdgeAnd Permanent RecordRomantic leads The Lake HouseAnd Sweet NovemberYou can trust our compassionate and skilled doctors. Something’s Gotta Give, ThumbsuckerPlease see the following: To the Bone. His persona is so defined that it’s all the more effective when he goes in the opposite direction and plays bad guys, like he did in The Gift, The WatcherPlease see the following: The Neon Demon. Of course, he will always be best known for his action work — especially now that the John Wick franchise has defined the third act of his career. The eve John Wick Chapter 4, we’ve compiled a list of some lesser-known performances that highlight his stealthily broad range.

Let’s first discuss the criteria. For the purpose of this list, “deep cuts” are defined as quality Keanu Reeves movies that were box-office flops and/or unpopular with critics when they were released. Movies like The Matrix, TempoPlease see the following: Toy Story 4 aren’t on the list, obviously, but it also means no Point Break, The Devil’s AdvocateOr Constantine either. Good, in fact. Johnny Mnemonic doesn’t make the cut, even though it’s a favorite of so-bad-it’s-good movie aficionados. The list also has a couple of highly regarded indies that folks who only know Reeves’ blockbusters may not have seen. All the included movies have at minimum one subscription or free streaming option. This will help you save a few bucks.

These nine Keanu Reeves deep-cuts reveal John Wick’s multiple faces: from dreamboat boy to world-weary patchy-bearded guy,

River’s Edge

Island Pictures

The previous three years Bill & Ted’s Excellent AdventureReeves was a star and he had his breakout role in 1986’s teen drama, “The Crimes of Teenage Murder”. River’s Edge. An unrelentingly dark look at Reagan’s disaffected youth is presented in this chronicle. It follows high school students who are reunited after John, a nihilistic wastoid John, murders his girlfriend without any particular motive and then shows his friends her body. Reeves plays Matt, the only member of the group disturbed by John’s actions. Matt is a budding alcoholic from a broken home who’s so alienated from his own emotions that he can’t articulate how he feels about what John has done, but we see him treat people with care when no one else does. River’s Edge is where Reeves’ primary on-screen persona — a little naive, a little detached, but fundamentally kind — started to take shape.

River’s EdgeThis cut is not as extensive as those on the list. The film was well-received upon its release, and it won the Independent Spirit Award as Best Picture. But it’s extremely underrated for how good it is. Writer Neal Jimenez’s keenly observed script and director Tim Hunter’s sense of milieu combine to make what has been called “the darkest teen film of all time.”

River’s EdgeIt is free to stream with adverts on Tubi TV, Pluto TV and Freevee. You also get a Kanopy library card for digital rental and purchase via Amazon, Apple TV and Redbox.

The Night Before

Kings Road Entertainment

Reeves portrays a completely different character in 1988’s teen comedy: a geek. Reeves’ first lead comedy role was actually an Anthony Michael Hall one. He’s not especially believable as the vice president of the astronomy club — he’s young Keanu Reeves, after all — but he’s very believable as a naïf who’s completely out of his depth.

Reeves plays Winston Connelly, a total dweeb who’s going to prom with the head cheerleader, Tara (Lori Loughlin, long before Operation Varsity Blues), because she lost a bet. He regains consciousness after losing his bet and is found in an alleyway in the middle night. He has to piece together what happened to him earlier that night — and figure out where Tara is now. He embarks on a wide-eyed suburban boy’s journey into the East Los Angeles underworld. Reeves has a charming, funny performance as he transitions from being confused to gaining self-confidence. It’s sort of like a teen comedy version of After-hours.

The Night Before You can stream it for free on Tubi or The Roku Channel with ads, as well as digital rental on Amazon or Vudu.

My Own Private Idaho

Image by Fine Line Features

Director Gus Van Sant’s 1991 indie classic is a queer cinema landmark and all-around excellent film. Loosely based on Shakespeare’s Henry IVThis film makes street hustlers mythic while keeping them grounded emotionally in real life. Reeves plays Scott Favor, a capricious young man slumming it as an act of rebellion against his wealthy politician father before he ultimately inherits his family’s fortune and returns to moneyed society. He’s the opposite of his narcoleptic friend Mikey Waters (River Phoenix), who was abandoned by his family and lives the life of a hustler because he has to. Mikey’s heterosexual love affair with Scott is one of the many reasons he has heartache.

It’s Phoenix’s movie — it’s hard to separate his tragic character from his own biography, since he died two years after My Own Private Idaho was released — but Reeves gives what’s still one of the best performances of his career. Reeves communicates a deep pain through the cracks in Scott’s facade and delivers the Shakespearean dialogue with authority.

My Own Private IdahoIt is free to stream with a Hoopla library card, Digital rental and purchase via Amazon, Apple TV or YouTube.

The Gift

Image by Paramount

The following year The MatrixReeves played one of the most memorable villain parts in this Southern supernatural thriller. He plays an abusive husband named Donnie Barksdale, who doesn’t like that psychic reader Annie (Cate Blanchett) keeps advising his wife, Valerie (Hilary Swank), to leave him. He is a completely different type of bad guy. He imbues Donnie with a menacing physicality that’s truly frightening. His Southern accent is a sign he worked hard with a coach in dialect.

Filmed from Evil DeadAnd Spider-Man director Sam Raimi, with a script by Billy Bob Thornton (who’s not in the movie) and Tom Epperson. It’s Raimi’s most underrated movie, with a wonderful noirish atmosphere and a stacked cast that also includes Giovanni Ribisi, Greg Kinnear, J.K. Simmons, and Katie Holmes as the femme fatale. Reeves doesn’t always get enough credit for how useful he is as a supporting player in an ensemble cast. He is an example of low-key generosity and his willingness to share in the spotlight.

The Gift Starz can stream it online. It’s also available Digital rental and purchase via Amazon, Apple TV or YouTube.

A Scanner Darkly

Image: Warner Independent Pictures

It’s tempting to describe the 2006 sci-fi crime thriller A Scanner Darkly as “trippy,” but that’s not really accurate. It’s a druggy movie with distinctive hallucinatory visuals, but the drugs are amphetamines, not psychedelics. If there’s any “psych” here, it’s psychosis. Reeves plays a narcotics officer named Bob Arctor who gets addicted to “Substance D” while living among users during an undercover operation and gradually loses his mind. Reeves often plays naive characters who learn there’s a lot more to their reality than they realized — most famously in The MatrixHowever, it also includes in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Street KingsAnd uhhh! Resurrections of the MatrixTo name but a few, A Scanner Darkly is the darkest take on the archetype he’s done.

A Scanner Darkly uses a hybrid animation technique known as rotoscoping, where animators trace over live-action footage to preserve the actors’ performances. The performances here are excellent, especially Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson as Bob’s tweaked-out roommates. The movie sings when the three of them appear together. Richard Linklater was able, thanks to Rotoscoping, to create a Sci-Fi movie with significant effects that cost less than $10 Million. The result is a freaky cult movie that’s truer to Philip K. Dick’s paranoid vision than Blade Runner, Minority Report, or any other adaptation of the legendary author’s work.

A Scanner DarklyThis stream is available for free on Tubi with ads, free with Kanopy’s library card, digital rental, purchase, and download on Amazon, Apple TV, YouTube, among other platforms.

Side by side

Image: Tribeca Film

Reeves isn’t just an actor. Reeves produced this film about celluloid film and digital in 2012 for cinephiles. It’s an open-minded and even-handed exploration of the benefits and drawbacks to making movies using traditional film or contemporary digital methods. The doc gets deep into the history, craft, and technology of filmmaking and does a great job of explaining technical concepts in layperson’s terms.

Reeves is responsible for narrating the informative and entertaining explanations and conducting interviews with the filmmakers. He used his clout to score interviews with some of Hollywood’s biggest directors, including Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, George Lucas, and Martin Scorsese, to name just a few of the dozens of interviewees. Reeves is a curious and humble student, who wants to understand more about the art form that he has dedicated his entire life to.

Side by side You can stream it for free on Tubi and The Roku Channel. Plex, Pluto TV and Freevee. Or, you can rent or buy digitally on Amazon, Vudu and YouTube.

Tai Chi Man

Universal Pictures

Reeves’s career has only seen one film, 2013 Martial Arts Action-Adventure.Tai Chi Man. The Chinese and American co-production tells the story of Tiger Chen (Tiger Chen, a skilled martial artist and close friend of Reeves’; Chen is playing a character with the same name as his own). Chen practices a new, innovative form of Tai Chi, the graceful martial art that is most often associated with the elderly in the park.

Reeves plays Donaka Mark, a shadowy organizer of high-stakes underground fight tournaments who wants to exploit Tiger’s talent and innocence. Reeves plays usually the person who tries to understand how the world works. But in this movie, he is the controlling man. The movie was a box-office bomb, and Reeves hasn’t gotten the chance to direct since. That’s a shame, because Tai Chi ManThe camera work is very solid with a vibrant camera that allows fights to play out in long and unfakeable shots. Reeves’s actions are reflected in the authenticity of this stunt. John WickThe next year saw the release of.

Tai Chi Man You can stream it for free on Vudu and Plex.

The Neon Demon

Image: Amazon Studios

In 2016, Reeves had villainous supporting roles in two arthouse thrillers from auteur directors: Ana Lily Amirpour’s Bad Batch and Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon. While the post-apocalyptic era is underway Bad Batch is too aimless to recommend for anyone except the most devoted Keanu die-hards (or anyone who really wants to see him talk at length about sewage while sporting a ’70s-style glasses-and-pornstache combo), The Neon DemonThis is a great psychological horror film that will appeal to fans who enjoy challenging movies.

Elle Fanning plays Jesse, a sixteen-year-old model who arrives in Los Angeles to find that everyone is after her beauty and youth. Her transition from wide-eyed naivete to red-pilled knowingness is the arc many of Reeves’ characters have undergone, so it’s easy to see what drew him to the film. His role is that of Jesse’s disgusting motel manager. It’s an ironic reversal of his typically amiable persona. Reeves is playing so hard against his own inherent likability that the character is even more disturbing than he would be if he were played by a more traditionally “evil” actor.

The Neon DemonPrime Video allows you to stream it.

To the Bone

Gilles Mingasson/Netflix.

Reeves was a famous doctor in the movie “The Doctor.” Something’s Gotta Give, Nancy Meyers’ beloved romantic comedy, which is too big of a hit to include here. This list’s doctor representation has to be Marti Noxon’s To the BoneThe Recovery Drama starring Lily Collins plays a young lady with anorexia.

Reeves plays Dr. William Beckham, an eating disorder specialist who welcomes Collins’ Ellen into his experimental therapeutic program, where patients live and recover together. He epitomizes tough and compassionate love. He’s kind, but he tells Ellen the hard truth, which is that in order to be helped, she has to accept help. “I’m not going to treat you if you aren’t interested in living,” he says. She later gets Eli for her name. He thinks it suits her better than her older-fashioned birthname. It’s a role that makes use of his laid-back decency. He’s not always gentle, but he is always kind.

To the BoneIt is streaming on Netflix.